May as well list the last players to score 50 in their draft years: Sidney Crosby, Nail Yakupov (on pace to do so), Jeff Skinner, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, and Joffrey Lupul.

From a qualitative point of view, I think Mantha has what it takes to take his scoring to the next level. He has a quick release and precise shot. Very good skater. May be more physical at times but I still find this very overstated. So, basically the inverse of what Bernier was in the Q. Bernier was a slow skater, long windup and played the power game running over everybody.

In the games I watched this year there was once when I asked myself: is Mantha playing tonight (about halfway in the game)? and he actually ended the night scoring 2. The rest of the time (though I watched sparingly most the time browsing through games on Telus), I thought he was engaged for a goal-scorer.

People say, well he only scores goals, and brings nothing else to the table. I'm like, what? That's already a huge part of the game. I think he can become a 30-goal scorer in the league. Could be a Jeff Carter, Joffrey Lupul kinda guy. Seems to have good character from what I read and heard from Ross McLean.

I'll take this kid over someone like McCaron 10/10. Nothing against the physical guys with great body but they rarely develop into more than your average grinder (a la Colton Gillies). For every Milan Lucic there's a good 10-20 busts.

I also saw the Habs get beat by the beast of a man that is Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

If the Habs start drafting by needs and for what happened in this year's playoffs, they're buying themselves a ticket to terrible drafting. Those guys won't be on the team for at least 3-4 years. Plenty of time for the team to change. Also, the Habs have players who should be doing this already. Guys like Moen, ARrstrong, and so on, who simply didn't play their role.

Just curious as to how many times you've watched Bernier play at the junior level to come up with an assessment does not have the ":quick release and precise shot" that Mantha has? I played 140 games and about 300 practices with Bernier and I've seen him score 80+ goals live and I can tell you his release and precision were two of his biggest strengths (the others being his hockey sense, soft hands and physical strength). What stopped Bernier from being dominant at the NHL level was lack of confidence and 'swagger'.